Apart from the title of the concert programme, Grand Duos pour deux Guitares, what’s exceedingly attractive is the fact that a contemporary of Joseph Haydn adapted his string quartets for probably one of the most popular stringed instruments of our time – a version that was surely preformed during the composer’s lifetime. In such, from the perspective of zeitgeist and its conjunct societal etiquette, the comprehension of both artists’ musical conceptualisation must have converged rather closely.

The awe-inspiring joy of playing and charming-elegant wit of the performance at the Maulbronn Monastery’s Laymen Refectory show how modern chamber music can be interpreted – to the pleasure of the audience. An almost courtly atmosphere permeated the duo’s concert. But let us allow the artists some quotes themselves, out of the performance, so to speak:
"!Perhaps a few words about the guitars we play, because they’re not the modern concert guitars that are so well known. They are replicas of instruments that were played during the classic era in Vienna, built by a certain Mr Staufer. François de Fossa, who adapted these works of Haydn’s, played this type of instrument. But, we had them re-built. After all, they played on new guitars back then, so why should we have to give concerts with old ones?"

The guitarist and composer François de Fossa (1775-1849) adapted these four Divertimentos for String Quartet from Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) as "Grand Duos for Two Guitars". De Fossa is still handled as a hot tip by today’s guitarists. Only gradually is his work, including numerous adaptations and original compositions for solo guitars and guitar ensembles, being dug out of the archives and made accessible to the public.

As Duo Sonare, Thomas Offermann & Jens Wagner have enriched the world of music since 1984 with their elegant interpretations of modern and classical guitar music. “One of the top ensembles of its kind – for music of the 19th century maybe even the best.” Their selected transcriptions are full of humour and originality. Their repertoire, performed on instruments of the respective musical era, brings the full opulence of chamber music to a felicitous consensus that proves how refreshingly old music can be presented to a contemporary audience. It is therefore no surprise that the duo has gained an international following on its concert tours and master courses in over forty countries.